Manual# 990023

Revised 01/2010

THIS MANUAL MUST BE READ AND UNDERSTOOD BEFORE ANYONE OPERATES THIS MACHINE!

Wood Chipper

Model C551H

Operator's Manual

To the Owner;

Dealer Name:______________________________________

Dealer Phone Number:______________________________

Service Manager/Technician:_________________________

Model# and Description:____________________________

Serial Number:____________________________________

Date of Purchase:__________________________________

YOU MUST FILL OUT YOUR WARRANTY REGISTRATION TO ACTIVATE YOUR

WARRANTY AND TO QUALIFY FOR PARTS AND SERVICE!!

Thank-you for choosing a quality product. We strive to give you the best

equipment and the best level of service of any company. With a little care and

maintenance this machine will do your work for you for many years. In this

manual, we make an effort to get you better acquainted with the machine so you

can achieve maximum performance. We design and build all of our equipment

with the end user in mind so we welcome any suggestions or ideas for

improvement. Please note that it is within our rights to make changes or

improvements to our equipment without updating the equipment that was

manufactured before the change took place.

Please take a few minutes to fill out the area below. This information will be

valuable to you when ordering parts or requesting service from your dealer.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction 2

Intended Use 2

Serial Number 2

Specifications 2

Safety 3

Inspection and Set-up 4

Operation 5

Startup 5

Chipping Tips 5

Chip Chute Adjustments 6

Deflector 6

Feeding Material 7

Maintenance & Service 8

Belt Tension 8

Replacing the Belts 8

Knives 9

Anvil 9

Lubrication 10

Bearings 10

Feed Roller Slide 11

Warranty 12

INTRODUCTION

Intended Use

The Chippers are designed to chip natural, untreated wood only. Materials that are processed may contain

chemicals or biproducts that could corrode the machine, damage the blades, or spontaneously combust.

The manufacturer will not cover under warranty any chipper that has been used for anything besides

natural wood.

Serial Number

The chipper’s serial number is located on the

inside of the base. This number helps us to track

changes and improvements and must be mentioned

when ordering parts or requesting service.

For your convenience, a space has been provided

inside the front cover of this manual to record the

serial number, model number, purchase date, and

dealer name.

Figure 1

Specifications

Specifications

Chip Opening

Drive System

Engine

Transport

HP Required

Rotor Size

Knives

Knife Bolts

Feed System

Hydraulic Requirement

Feed Roller

Hopper Opening

Feed Height

Weight (lbs.)

3-Point Hitch

N/A

C551H

PTO

5.5" x 8"

Hydraulic

6 GPM

15"

3/8 Recessed Head Hardened Bolts

(4) 2.5" x 3.25" x 5/16"

165 lbs.

35+

28" x 28"

21"

775

SAFETY

Never place your hands or feet on or near the machine while it is engaged.

Never place your hands or feet on or near the material while it is feeding.

Never allow children, disabled, or untrained persons to operate the chipper.

Never move the chipper while it is running.

Never perform any maintenance or repair while the chipper is running.

Do not go near any hydraulic leaks. Hydraulic oil is under extreme pressure and

a small leak can easily penetrate the skin, causing serious injury and infection.

Do not operate this machine until this manual has been read and fully

understood; serious injury or death can occur if these safety warnings are

ignored!

Never allow more than one person to operate this machine at a time. If two people

are working together it will increase the chance of your workmate engaging the

machine or causing you to fall into the machine.

Wood is much harder than human flesh! If your hand is ever near the chipping or

feeding area serious injury can occur. NEVER place your hands on the machine

while it is chipping.

DO NOT wear loose clothing, jewelry, or anything that can catch a branch that is

feeding into the chipper.

DO NOT stand directly in front of the infeed hopper when loading material into the

hopper; always load from the side of the hopper. This will not allow any part of

your body to be pulled into the machine.

Always wear hearing protection, eyewear, gloves, and long pants when operating

the chipper.

Never place your hands beyond the opening of the hopper while the chipper is

running.

Do not operate the chipper near bystanders, public roads, or anywhere that the

debris may travel far enough to injure another person.

Shut off the tractor and allow the chipper to come to a complete stop before

removing any debris.

INSPECTION AND SET-UP

•

•

•

•

• Check the chip chute locking device to make sure it locks the chute securely into position when

the handle is in the locked position. This adjustment is also made at the factory but needs to

be readjusted after the chute is "worn in".

Follow the instructions in the lubrication section of this manual to make sure the chipper is

greased properly. The initial grease is applied at the factory, but a routine maintenance

schedule is the user’s responsibility.

Check all bolts and nuts to make sure everything is tight. All hardware is checked at the factory,

but sometimes it will vibrate loose during shipment. Also check all fasteners periodically

between uses. A wood chipper produces high vibration levels which can cause hardware to

loosen.

Check the position of the knives in relation to the chip anvil. The recommended setting is 1/32”

between the anvil and the closest knife. You may notice the rotor has a slight wobble which will

cause one of the knives to run closer than the other. This is normal. See page 9 for instructions

on adjusting the anvil depth.

Check the length of the PTO shaft. Some tractor 3-point hitch arms are shorter and require a

shorter PTO shaft. To determine whether your shaft needs to be cut down to fit you will need

to connect the 3-point arms to the chipper, connect the PTO shaft to both the tractor and

chipper, and slowly raise the 3-point hitch. Watch closely to make sure that the PTO shaft does

not fully retract. If it does, you will need to remove it and cut it down accordingly. If the PTO

shaft is not fitted properly it can “bottom out” and cause damage to the PTO shaft or the

chipper.

OPERATION

Startup

• Place tractor transmission in neutral and set the parking brake, then turn the tractor engine off.

• Connect the 3 pt. hitch linkages to the chipper and secure them with safety snap pins.

• Adjust the top link so that the chipper sits level.

•

•

•

•

Chipping tips

• Feed the blunt end of the branch in first.

•

•

•

Make sure the feed drive control bar on the chipper is in the 'neutral' position and connect the

hydraulic hoses to the tractor.

Trim the side limbs that won’t fit into the hopper before you feed the chipper.

Feed smaller material into the hopper from the side of hopper so that debris doesn’t fly back at

you. Never stand directly in front of the hopper when feeding the chipper.

If you have a lot of dry material try to mix in some green (fresh) limbs with the dry. The

moisture in the green wood will lubricate and cool the knives. Chipping only dry wood will

cause the knives to heat up. A hot knife will lose its edge much quicker.

With the chipper now running at full speed you may begin chipping. Start by feeding small diameter

branches until you get better acquainted with the machine and its operation, then you may begin

feeding larger pieces.

Connect the pto shaft to the tractor. Be sure that the balls are set in the ball groove of the

tractor pto shaft. Make sure that the pto safety chains are attached to both the tractor and the

chipper to keep the protective PTO shield from rotating.

Start tractor engine and hold the engine rpm’s at a strong idle. Engage the pto slowly. If the

tractor is running at a high speed when you engage the PTO you could damage the drive belt or

break the shear bolt on the PTO shaft. After the rotor is spinning freely increase the tractor

rpm’s until the pto speed is around 540 rpm’s and engage the hydraulics.

OPERATION

Chip chute adjustments

Deflector

CLAMP TIGHT

CLAMP LOOSE

Figure 2

Figure 3 Figure 4

To position the chip chute, pull the locking handle (Figure 2) toward you to unlock. The chute

conveniently rotates a full 360 degrees. Rotate it to the desired position and lock the handle.

Be sure the handle is locked before transporting the chipper!

The chip deflector easily adjusts to regulate the distance that the chips are thrown. Loosen the

two clamp knobs and adjust as desired. (Figure 3 & 4)

OPERATION

Feeding Material

0

Figure 5 10 Figure 6

Forward Neutral Reverse

The flow control valve (Figure 5) will control the speed of the material being fed into the

chipper. The tractor's hydraulic GPM will also contribute to the speed of the feed.

To adjust the speed of the feed system, find a small branch and feed it into the chipper and

with the feed adjusted to 3 or 4 and keep adjusting up until the chips are 3/8" to 1/2" thick.

The feed setting "0" will completely stop the flow of oil to the motor, stopping the feed roller.

The hydraulic system on the chipper requires at least 6 GPM to operate the chipper at full

capacity. If the tractor has too much flow the oil in the tractor could overheat, causing the

hydraulic fluid to lose it's viscosity. In this situation a self contained hydraulic kit should be

installed. This option is available from the manufacturer. Contact your local dealer/distributor

for pricing and availability.

Sometimes when the brush is wet or if there are a lot of small twigs and branches the feed

roller can slip because of the wet wood or of the small sized material. In this situation it is best

to grab the control bar and switch from forward to reverse several times. You can even reverse

the material and rotate it a different way so that the roller grabs a different part of the branch.

Hydraulic Flow Control

Show above (Figure 6) is the control bar that operates the feed roller. This control bar has three

positions, forward, neutral & reverse. The feeding position is to the rear of the machine so that

in an emergency the operator can just push the control bar and it will either stop or reverse the

feed roller. Always keep the control bar in the neutral position whenever you are not feeding

the chipper to eliminate the chance of accidently feeding something into the machine.

MAINTENANCE & SERVICE

Belt tension

Replacing the belts

Follow these steps to replace the drive belt. The C551H chipper uses (3) BX-58 belts.

• Remove the idler spring to release the tension on the belt.

• Remove the bolts that attach the front bearings and loosen the set screws in this bearing.

•

•

Figure 7 Figure 8

Shield has been removed to show detail. All shields must be on at all times during operation!!

The belt tension is relatively maintenance free. The spring loaded idler will keep constant

pressure on the belt during use. However, there is a slight adjustment by tightening or

loosening the eye bolt, increasing or decreasing the spring tension.

Replace the belts and bolt the bearing back into position. Tighten the set screws in the bearing

and reinstall the idler springs. Be sure to put the safety shield back on.

Slide the bearing out far enough to lift the shaft out of the access slot. You may need to remove

the PTO shaft.

MAINTENANCE & SERVICE

Knives

Anvil

• Loosen the two 1/2” bolts that clamp the anvil in position.

• Open the top of the rotor housing so you can watch the distance between the knives and anvil.

•

• Retighten the bolts to secure the anvil.

Figure 9 Figure 10

The depth of your anvil will also affect the performance of your chipper. The anvil is also

reversible. Follow these steps to adjust the anvil. (Figure 10)

Move the anvil to within 1/32” of the closest knife using the 3/8” adjustment rods. The knife

depth may vary a little as you turn the rotor. This is normal.

The performance of the chipper will depend largely on the condition of the knives. If the knives

are dull or damaged you will create a lot of unnecessary stress on the whole machine. The

knives are reversible and can easily be reversed or replaced by removing the two 3/8 bolts.

(Figure 9) We recommend that the knives be resharpened by a precision sharpening service to

retain the proper angle. The angle of the cutting edge should be 45 degrees. It is good to keep

an extra set of knives on hand to use while the other set is being sharpened.

LUBRICATION

Bearings

Figure 11 Figure 12

Figure 13 Figure 14

The C551Hchipper has four bearings. Figures 11 & 12 show the bearings on the input shaft

where the PTO shaft attaches. These bearings should be greased lightly every 8 hours of use. Be

sure to wipe all the dirt off of the fitting before greasing.

Figures 13 & 14 show the rotor shaft bearings. These should also be greased lightly every 8

hours. When greasing a sealed bearing, be careful that you do not over grease or the grease

will push the rubber seal away and expose the bearing to dirt and moisture.

LUBRICATION

Figure 15

Feed Roller Slide

Figure 16 Figure 17

There are two feed roller bearings. The picture below points out the location of these bearings. These

bearings should be greased lightly every 20 hours of use.

The feed roller slide should always be wet with grease. Grease the feed slides every 10 hours

(this might be excessive but too much grease won't damage the feed slide); the right feed slide

grease fittings can be accessed through the holes in the shield shown in Figure 16.

WARRANTY

No one is authorized to alter, modify, or change the terms of this Warranty in any manner.

The Company warrants the Construction of the equipment sold herein and will replace at its expense for a

period of (1) year from the date hereof, any parts which prove defective as determined under the terms of this

Limited Warranty.

Limited Warranty

The Company warrants to the original Purchaser all Machinery, Equipment, or Trailers manufactured by it, to be

free from defects in material and workmanship under normal use and service. Its obligation under this Warranty

shall be limited to replacement or repair of any parts thereof, free of charge to the original Purchaser, at its

place of business, provided, however, that the part(s) to be replaced or repaired, shall within one (1) year after

delivery to the original Purchaser, be demonstrated to be defective; which determination shall be made by the

Company. The said components or parts must be returned through the Selling dealer or distributor directly to

the Company with all transportation charges prepaid. Notice of defect shall be furnished in writing to the Seller

and to the agent through whom the machinery was received, disclosing in full all known defects and failure in

operation and use, and reasonable time shall be given to the Seller to remedy any such defects and failures.

Failure to make such trial or give such notice shall be deemed an absolute acceptance by the Buyer and

satisfaction in full of this Limited Warranty.

This Warranty does not cover, under any circumstances, any parts, components, or materials which, in the

opinion of the Seller and Company, have been subjected to neglect, misuse, alteration, accident, or if repaired,

with parts other than those manufactured by and obtained from original manufacturer.

The Company’s obligation under this Warranty is limited to repair or replacement, free of charge to the original

Purchaser, of any part which in judgment of the Company is defective. This Warranty does not cover normal

wear and tear.

This Warranty does not cover components which are already covered by a separate Warranty provided by the

supplier of said parts or components.

THIS WARRANTY IS MADE EXPRESSLY IN LIEU OF ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING

ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR USE AND PURPOSE AND OF ALL OTHER OBLIGATIONS

OR LIABILITIES ON ITS PART AND ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY. AND IT NEITHERASSUMES NOR AUTHORIZES ANY

OTHER LIABILITY IN CONNECTION WITH A SALE OF THIS MACHINE. THIS WARRANTY SHALL NOT APPLY TO THIS

MACHINE OR TO ANY PART THEREOF WHICH HAS BEEN SUBJECT TO ACCIDENT, NEGLIGENCE, ALTERATION,

ABUSE, OR MISUSE.

The Company makes no Warranty whatsoever in respect to accessories or parts not supplied by the Company.

The term “original Purchaser” as used in this warranty, shall be deemed that person for whom the Machine,

Equipment, or Trailer is originally supplied. This Warranty shall apply only within the boundaries of the

continental United States.

Under this Warranty, the Company cannot guarantee that existing conditions beyond its control will not affect

its ability to obtain materials or manufacture necessary replacement parts.